Keynote Speakers

We are pleased to welcome two keynote speakers to the conference! Both are California Indian Ph.D.s who are the newest Professors of Native American Studies at Humboldt State University!

Thursday April 5, 20189:30 - 10:15 a.m.​Native Forum - BSS 162

Dr. Cutcha Risling Baldy

Assistant Professor, Native American Studies​Humboldt State University

Dr. Cutcha Risling Baldy is an Assistant Professor of Native American Studies at Humboldt State University. Her research is focused on Indigenous feminisms, California Indians and decolonization. She is the author of a popular blog that explores issues of social justice, history and California Indian politics and culture. Dr. RislingBaldy is Hupa, Yurok and Karuk and an enrolled member of the Hoopa Valley Tribe in Northern California. In 2007, Dr. RislingBaldy co-founded the Native Women's Collective, a nonprofit organization that supports the continued revitalization of Native American arts and culture. Dr. RislingBaldy's first book We Are Dancing For You: Native Feminisms and the Revitalization of Women's Coming-of-age Ceremonies will be published by the University of Washington Press in Spring 2018.

Friday April 6, 20181:30 - 2:15 p.m.Native Forum - BSS 162

Dr. Kayla Begay

Assistant Professor, Native American Studies​Humboldt State University

Dr. Kayla Begay is an Assistant Professor at Humboldt State University in the Native American Studies Department. She received her Ph.D. and M.A. in Linguistics from the University of California, Berkeley, and B.A. in Linguistics from Stanford University, focusing on description of languages of Northern California, Dene languages, and community-based language revitalization. While at Stanford, she also minored and taught classes in Native American studies. She is an enrolled Hoopa Valley Tribal member, with grandparents and great-grandparents also enrolled in the Karuk and Yurok tribes. She is a current board member with the Advocates for Indigenous California Language Survival (AICLS).